


Bet Your Life

by IreneisaBean



Series: The Reversal Universe [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, The Reversal Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 11:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3849793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneisaBean/pseuds/IreneisaBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 0010, life should have been stabilising, but in the budding portion of Edge a movement rose in anger and spite, through many mediums, the WRO could not shake the most basic forms of hate from anti-ShinRa theorists. So the WRO stagnates, in limbo, they cannot help those who are still reeling from the after effects of Geostigma and Meteorfall– but with public outcry Reeve’s hands are tied, and now he realises how Shinra Senior fell down that slippery slope of a power struggle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bet Your Life

In 0010, life should have been stabilising, but in the budding portion of Edge a movement rose in anger and spite, through many mediums, the WRO could not shake the most basic forms of hate from anti-ShinRa theorists. So the WRO stagnates, in limbo, they cannot help those who are still reeling from the after effects of Geostigma and Meteorfall– but with public outcry Reeve’s hands are tied, and now he realises how Shinra Senior fell down that slippery slope of a power struggle.  
It turns his temples grey, not that they were already grey– he’d deny that for years to come, but he does grey over this stress. His chief medical officer states very coolly that it give him the face of wisdom, but she states with a laugh grey hairs don’t make him wise. Stress lines harden over his face for a moment before she even changes her stance, brushing a hand over his– stating he also looks human, approachable. She’s kind, in the effect, that she’s stating that he has a fight in this game, regardless what the papers say.

They are juvenile, trying to make the world a better place, and she’s right, leaving him with the thought to keep moving on, keep fighting the good fight. So he does– at least for now. She’s not the only one to give him advice, two weeks after his hair greys and the reports come out that people are missing, he’s approached by his chief of finance who has a plan to dupe the public with a super PAC donation under a name that has nothing to do with the Shinra family or the SEPC, inc. It’s a dangerous game to play and the Commissioner steeps his fingers, mulling it over as his staff moves in and out of his office, getting flustered by the presence of four Turks and the man who could have owned the world. The blond offers to step down from the WRO’s board of directors as well, and Reeve only can stand and usher the group out, saying that he’ll think about all of it.

He doesn’t.

His popularity takes a nose dive– into the forty percent range.

GNN reports on an affair he didn’t know he was having with his chief of staff, who is a very beautiful woman in her own right, but she’s married, and he’s married to his work. The WRO is taking over his life– he’s already bet his bank account, so his soul is obviously next. He can’t decide if he believes in something like a soul, so he bets his sanity in it’s stead.

He grabs a cup of coffee with a former co-worker turned almost employee. The Wutai man offers no advice, he simply offers a cup of warm, dark roast, and a blanket statement about sometimes people are fickle, and that they would come around. The words are almost comforting, if the Turk could feign a shred of emotion, and the Commissioner tells him that pointedly. It’s the first time he’s snapped in two months, and the Turk has to hide a smile over his cup. So Reeve excuses himself back to his office, and finds himself pouring the coffee into a potted plant that he really didn’t want. It’s a safe way to let out the frustration– rather than appear publicly and dispute fact and fiction, telling the public that they were wrong and he was right.

He later admits, the Turk’s advice was solid, in the totalitarian prospect of things, but Reeve doesn’t want to take away their freedom of speech, and he doesn’t feel the need to defend himself when the housing programme in Mideel needs work, people in Kalm are starving due to a drought, and when there are more important things to handle than defending his good name.

Later, he decides his name isn’t that good anyway.

Deepground attacks.

And the public is silent on how much they hate ShinRa and the WRO. They actually cry out for help. Kalm is the first city to demand military aid, which, Reeve sends. He personally escorts aid into the city, sending up a beacon for ex-AVALANCHE agents to help. His director of espionage is the first to respond, she’s geared up to send aid to her homeland of Wutai, but she stays in Kalm and evacuates homes under Reeve’s orders. After the walls fall, and they have gotten a hold of the crimson gunslinger, Reeve and she exchange words. She is the only one not to have advice for him, she’s up to date on his issues, she shrugs, and he thinks she’s the one who is most qualified to give advice in this situation he has. She’s going to be Empress of a nation after all. But all she does is tell him to do is to hang in there, and that she’ll see him on the flip side.

Public support for the WRO is at an all time high.

He’s angry, but he smiles for the press reports, he states he’s just doing his job, and he finally kills that potted plant he never wanted. His chief medical officer is the one to get rid of it, before she tells him that she’s going to chase down a lead in Edge as she evacuates the city. Reeve wants to tell her it’s too dangerous, that it’s stupid to do this now. However, he doesn’t, he throws himself into troop organisation and let’s her do what she wants.

Later, he ends up regretting her go, and also is very thankful that he didn’t tell her off. Because, even though eventually the both of them compromise the security of the WRO, she brings Reeve a gift in the form of a gunslinging ex-Turk and ex-AVALANCHE member, who then proceeds to seize due to a fever.

She states she can fix that.

He goes back to work.

His popularity dips again, when the attacks slow for two weeks.

His frustration mounts, and finally ebbs when Vincent is finally released from the medbay. Reeve kills another house plant, this time it’s not out of anger. Things happen, Deepground invades, Shalua is in a coma, her sister takes up her mantle, Reeve fractures his knee in the attack on the WRO. Things genuinely escalate, and he’s terrified, but he puts on a stern front.

His popularity soars–  
Until GNN reports that Deepground was an SECP, inc project that went wrong and that the WRO is to blame, that the WRO wants to cover it up.

Reeve stops listening to the news as they invade Midgar. He stops listening as the people that matter most to him bet their lives. He’s not needed on the ground, so he sends out his own mechanical scouts, as he monitors the vital signs of Shalua Rui.

He then admits aloud that his grey hair does not mean that he’s any wiser than he was in his youth, he then gets mad that Shalua was so selfless– that she could bet her life with such ease. He then eats his words as Shelke, Yuffie, Vincent and AVALANCHE do the same thing. So he tells his security to go fuck themselves, after the Shera is totalled and he takes up a defensive stance with the people that mean the most, and watches in awe as Vincent does the heavy lifting.

They recover Shalua two weeks later, and she’s stabilised. Vincent reappears unscathed, and partially grey. Reeve laughs for the first time in three months. He’s gifted another potted plant from the Turks, and he’s almost thankful.

The GNN and the Brotherhood of Edge are already at their old tricks again, but Reeve finally doesn’t care. His popularity isn’t any concern for him. He’s got cities to rebuild– people to think of.

He’s already bet his life, and that’s enough for some.


End file.
